Fashion Plate starts over in Torrey Pines

DEL MAR, Calif. – Fashion Plate had a perfect season at Santa Anita last winter, winning a maiden race and two Grade 1 races for 3-year-old fillies. But nothing went right for her in the spring and summer.

She was 11th in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 2 and ninth in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park on June 7. Her comeback in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap on Aug. 17 was abandoned when she showed signs of colic days before the race.

All of that has led Fashion Plate to Sunday’s $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes for 3-year-old fillies over a mile at Del Mar. She is overqualified to win the Grade 3 Torrey Pines but needs a race before the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 27, a goal for owners Michael Tabor and Arnold Zetcher and trainer Simon Callaghan.

“This race comes up at a good time,” Callaghan said. “I think it’s a good place to get her back on the track.”

Fashion Plate is part of a field of seven that includes two stakes winners from the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting – Delta Flower, who won the Angels Flight Stakes over seven furlongs May 17, and Jojo Warrior, who won the Grade 2 Summertime Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on June 21.

KEY CONTENDERS

Fashion Plate (Last 3 Beyers: 57-58-87)

◗ Fashion Plate was unbeatable as a front-runner at Santa Anita, winning the Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes over a mile Feb. 1 and the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks over 1 1/16 miles on April 5.

◗ In the Kentucky Oaks, she was unsettled before the start and ran at the back of the field.

“The Kentucky Oaks was a complete throw-out,” Callaghan said. “It was over before the race started. We gave her some time, and we’re back in California, where she has done all her winning.”

Jojo Warrior (Last 3 Beyers: 92-72-78)

◗ After winning her first stakes in the Summertime Oaks, she has worked steadily since early July.

◗ She led throughout the Summertime Oaks and is likely to be part of the pace in the Torrey Pines.

◗ The Torrey Pines Stakes will be her first start on a synthetic surface since she beat maidens here last September in her only start at 2.

Delta Flower (Last 3 Beyers: 81-85-67)

◗ Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, she is another with speed. In the Summertime Oaks, she chased Jojo Warrior and faded in the final furlong.

◗ Delta Flower breaks from the rail under jockey Rafael Bejarano.